Ben
''"Nicks second kid? He's harmless. Unless you go throwing rocks at that Malky hornets nest that is. Word on the street is if you need a good driver he may be willing to offer his services up some nights. For a price." ''-Terry B en is a Neonate Malkavian, Childe of Nick, Grandchilde of Sebastian. Ben is a strong shouldered man with a slightly receded hairline, a small nose and strong chin. His Malkavian curse is to pendulum swing between bi-polar states, although more often than not he is somewhere in the middle. During very depressive fits, Derrick is known to nurse and take care of him, seeing that he has clean clothes, vitae, and is bathed. Classically handsome, it never saved his livelihood when after a bad wiring job he lost his electrician's license. Falling on hard times, and unable to afford an appeal, he began to mug people to get by. While he was a Ghoul, Ben had a string of girlfriends, although it never became serious. Once he was embraced, however, his luck dried up and he stopped looking. Ben is not known for his flashy use of Disciplines, so much so that no one actually knows what he does or does not posess. Many kindred within the cage are unaware of Ben. Most don't know much of anything about him, or care too. Mortal Life Ben was born on January 16, 1964, in Detroit, Michigan. He lived in the urban slums of a predominantly black neighbourhood. His family was poor and his father was an 'angry drunk' would be like saying that Hitler was 'A little prejudice.' Ben has one older sister, Grace, who protected her little brother through most of Ben's childhood. They were very close and Grace had a big hand in helping raise ben as their mother was away most of the time working several menial jobs to keep the small family afloat. Grace protected Ben from their father and for her trouble took most of the abuse. This changed when Ben turned 16. Ben is not a small fellow, ad he grew rather quickly, so as soon as he was old enough to be physically imposing he threw his old man out of his ass and told him never to come back. Ben dropped out of school and did his best to help out his family, working odd jobs, toiling until the point of exhaustion. In stepping unto be the 'man of the house' so to speak ben found his first true love. Cars. His mother had a old Chevy and ben learned all he could from neighbours, books, even trail and error to keep it running smooth. He was good at it to, turns out he had a knack for the mechanical. After a while Ben began to realize that what he was doing wasn't enough. He needed a career. With some steady cash flow he could maybe convince his sister to go back to school, let his mom cut back on work. He knew what he was good at and what he wasn't and though cars were his passion, Ben knew he needed something more steady. So Ben decided on trade school and began training to become an Electrician. The problem is that beb didn't have the money for that, and he was far to proud to ask his mother or sister. So he turned to what he was good at, cars and driving. Ben started participating in underground street racing to pay his way through school. Fixing cars, winning cars, selling cars, winning races, losing races, stealing cars. Al the while against backdrop of books, tests, and lectures. This was were Ben picked up many of his more… unsavoury talents. Some to do his job well, and some to protect himself from the people in his field.. Eventually been graduated and got himself a rather steady job. He brought home good, steady, money. His mother w as able to retire, his sister went back to school. Everything was great for a time. Until ben started wanting more. Some of that street racing money could be pretty sweet. Augment is cash flow, buy one of those fancy new Big Screens, maybe even get a VHS player and a nintendo. But racing took up most of his nights leaving ben tired and careless on the job. Which, unfortunately, lead to him botching up on re-wiring job in a warehouse. Something went live that should't have, and a Co-worker died needlessly. Ben went through a spiral of addiction and depression. He lost his job, couldn't find more work, and steadily alienated his family and friends. In August of 1990 he drunkenly stumbled into his sister apartment to find and her Fiance having sex. In his state he saw the act as far more violent then it actually was and reacted as a protective older brother world. He left Detroit entirely after that, heading west and eventually ending up in Portland. He went back to his old tricks but there wasn't much of a street racing ring in the Rose City in the early 90s. But there was work for those willing to do things underhanded. Ben did every job from stick up man to, driver, and mugging people on the side became common practice. This started to harden him though, more and more he was slowly turning into a callous criminal. Ghouldom One evening, he mugged Nick, and in a panic he shot him. The two seperated for a few moments, but Ben caught up to him, and demanded to know why he hadn't died when he shot him. Nick, impressed with his werewithal to press the question despite his fear decided to ghoul him. Ben proved extremely capable. Firstly his breadth of knowledge in all things mechanical helped both nick and derrick out in several ways across the years. And his first hand experience with the criminal activities, contacts, shady skills, and the Portland street life was a massive boon to the rather middle-class Nick. While he was a ghoul he became fast friends with Derrick, almost seeing him as a short of Nephew, even when derrick himself was already a vampire. Unlike other vampires around Nick, Derrick always saw Ben as a person first, and he always appreciated the little guy for that. Ben was a loyal Ghoul, and Nick found him especially useful to run errands during the day. He soon had his electrician's license again, and even managed to rekindle a tenuous relationship with his estranged family (who never knew he had taken to mugging). For years this dynamic continued, until Sebastian manipulated him and Derrick into an attack by the Belial's Brood. Embrace and Unlife Derrick was disemboweled and crucified, not having met final death but only in torpor; while ben was gutted and left for dead. When Nick arrived, he combatted frenzy long enough to Embrace Ben, and retrieve Derrick's body. Since his embrace, Ben has been fighting bi-polar swings every few weeks. It took Ben a long time to adjust to his new derangement. As a ghoul he simply has some mild OCD inherited from Nick, but this? Depression was debilitating, he could't bring himself to do anything. And when he tried it only made things worse. Nominally Ben is a member of the Carthian Movment. But this Isn't out of some belief in the cause or loyalty to the group. But simply because of Ben's unshakeable commitment to both Nick and Derrick. Truthfully Ben resents most of the Carthian old gourd. He knows the way they looked at him before he was embraced. To Ben when he was a ghoul they all saw him as Nicks errand boy, a loyal dog. Not a human being. Its not something that he can easily forget, and ten years on he still hasn't. The exception is Jack. Jack and Ben have become fast friends, and why not? they share many of the same loves. Hot Chicks, Cars, real-men bikes, good smokes, a nice fight, a good party and some god damn foot-ball. Ben's the first kindred Jacks met in Portlad that was a real dudes dude, not a schemer, not a girly boy, not a hippy, not a chick. They've practically got a Bromance. Ben is very loyal and protective of his family. His Kindred family. He tries to help out with the two new scamps, helps Derrick when he needs a driver, and him and Nick practically see each other as brothers. They might not always get along, but they are always there for one another. Ben has even on more then one occasion been more then willing to work for and with Sebastian, despite his role in Bens embrace. Truthfully Ben's not bad about it. Being gutted was awful, but dying wasn't so bad. He knew that eventually this was going to happen, its the eventual fate of all Ghouls. You either die, or join the night club. Hell, Sebastian even see's things, Ben's fairly convinced he knew Nick was going to turn him. Most recently Ben and Jack have been taking strides to invigorate the underground street racing circuit in Portland, and it seems to be working. Ben just loves making sure the cops of the cage have to stay on their toes. Category:People Category:People